Blue Hawks win low scoring battle over Valley City State

DICKINSON, N.D. - Offense was hard to come by on a warm October afternoon in Dickinson, but the Blue Hawks were able to find the endzone one more time than the visitors from Valley City State (3-5, 2-2 NSAA) for a 21-13 victory.. The win was DSU's six straight, and fourth in conference, moving them to 6-2 (4-0 NSAA) on the season.

On the first drive of the game, Dickinson State went 75 yards on 15 plays to take a 7-0 lead. 10 of those 15 plays were rushes by Riley Linder, but it was a QB keeper by Bridger Grovom that broke the goal line on 1st and goal from the VCSU 3. Linder had 40 yards rushing on the drive, he had 45 on the game before leaving with an injury. The drive burned nearly eight minutes off the clock, helping DSU win the time of possession battle on the game 31:24 to 24:03. Valley City State was able to get a first down on their first drive thanks to an 11 yard pass on 3rd down, but that was all they got and were forced to punt. The ensuing DSU possession stretched across the first and second quarters but ended in a punt after a VCSU sack on third down.

The Vikings put together their best drive of the day on their first possession of the second quarter, going 67 yards on 10 plays to tie the game at 7-7. DSU was able to drive to the VCSU 31, aided by a couple Viking penalties, but a Wade James 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked at the line of scrimmage keeping the score tied. Both teams traded punts on their next drives, but Dickinson State was able to use good field position to their advantage going 54 yards on five plays, capped by a 26 yard touchdown pass from Aaron White to Noah Sickler, to take a 14-7 lead heading into half time.

Neither team could get much going coming out of the break, but with 4:26 left in the quarter White found Sickler again, this time for 17 yards, giving the Blue Hawks a two score advantage 21-7. A Keaton Meschke interception on the second play of the next VCSU drive didn't turn into any points for the Blue Hawks, and Valley City State was able to get within a score on their next drive when they punched in from three yards out with 10:48 left in the game, but a bad snap caused the extra point attempt to fail, leaving the score 21-13 DSU. Both defenses held strong from there with the Blue Hawks getting a couple huge 4th down stops to hold the lead.

White went 14-24 for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns on the day as DSU outgained the Vikings 326-188. Sickler caught seven passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns and Braden Zuroff took nine carries for 49 yards to pace the DSU offense.

WHATS NEXT

Dickinson State will hit the road one last time in the regular season when they take on Mayville State University on November 5 at 1 pm MT.